Modi govt modulates CAA line: No mention of NRC, frames law as ‘justice for persecuted Hindus’

In that sense, it is a course correction from the earlier clubbing of the NRC and CAA, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah himself saying in 2019 that the NRC would follow after the passage of the Act. That had triggered massive protests across the country, primarily by Muslim groups and their supporters. In contrast, speaking in Hyderabad on Tuesday, Shah underlined that the new law has no provision for stripping any Indian of citizenship.

All through Tuesday, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) of the government also kept putting out messages seeking to bust “myths” about the CAA, and assuring that Indian Muslims did not stand to lose in any way due to it.

In fact, right from the passage of the Act in Parliament in December 2019, PM Modi has been consistent in his stand that it would not affect any Indian citizen. He also said at the time that his government had done nothing so as to induce “NRC fears”. “Lies are being spread about the NRC. It (the commencement of the exercise in Assam) was done at the time of the Congress… We did not bring it,” he said on December 23, 2019, adding that his government, on the contrary, was ensuring land and other rights to people irrespective of religion or caste. “Will we make a law to throw you out from here? Bachche jaisi baatein karte ho (You talk like kids).”

A court-mandated NRC had been conducted in Assam, with the exercise starting in 2018, to update the data of an earlier NRC conducted in 1951. Its final enumeration of registered citizens, however, was not accepted by the Assam government and remains pending.

No nationwide NRC has ever been conducted, but Shah’s statement and the BJP’s talk of conducting such an exercise had added to the apprehensions surrounding the CAA.